This invention relates to the type of swim fin in which a rigid blade is spaced from the foot pocket and the center portion of the leading edge of the rigid blade is pivotally attached to support means which projects forwardly from the foot pocket.
The foot pocket of the swim fin of U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,696 is designed to fit over either booted foot and is shaped so that the support beams can be attached to the sides of the foot pocket. This results in the toe portion being square shaped and bulky and consequently generating much drag and turbulance during swimming.
Another problem with the swim fin of U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,696 is that the two beams, the strut and the two links are located at different positions relative to the rigid blade. These components not only generate drag and turbulance but because of their proximity to the blade and because they are spread out reduce blade efficiency in another way namely, by reducing the amount of blade area that acts on undisturbed water during swimming.